ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
official mediators that were agreed upon in the 1990’s to find a solution to the conflict.<br />
These three are Russia, Ukraine <strong>and</strong> the OSCE. The OSCE representative has in recent<br />
years been an American, so we have a role as well. The problem is that Russia <strong>and</strong><br />
Ukraine both are not impartial to the conflict. Many of the Slavic speakers in<br />
Transnistria, <strong>for</strong> example, are ethnic Ukrainians. There are more of them than of the<br />
Russians. So Kiev says it politically cannot impose very stringent sanctions because it<br />
would be punishing its own ethnic brethren. The Russians use a similar line. For the<br />
Russians, Transnistria provides sort of an outpost of influence in the region. True, Russia<br />
<strong>and</strong> Transnistria are not contiguous, but there are many economic <strong>and</strong> political links<br />
nonetheless. It is also a symbolic issue <strong>for</strong> Russian nationalists. Zhirinovsky visited<br />
Transnistria several times to show his allegiance to the Russian population.<br />
Q: How does Romania fit in?<br />
PERINA: Romania has a big interest in all of Moldova because it sees it as historically a<br />
part of Romania. There is a Romanian province of Moldova-Wallachia, <strong>and</strong> it was really<br />
one region in the middle Ages. Bessarabia fell under Russian control during the time of<br />
Katherine the Great <strong>and</strong> has thus been part of Russia or the Soviet Union <strong>for</strong> over two<br />
centuries, with the exception of the twenty-year period between World War I <strong>and</strong> World<br />
War II when it was part of Romania. So it is an ancient <strong>and</strong> disputed territory—a little<br />
like Macedonia in the Balkans which is an independent country but also has historic links<br />
to the Macedonian region of Greece. There were Romanian nationalists on both sides of<br />
the Moldovan-Romanian border calling <strong>for</strong> unification with Romania. But in my time <strong>and</strong><br />
in recent years only about 10% of the population favors unification with Romania, <strong>and</strong> all<br />
the Slavic speakers oppose it so it would just lead to another war. Now a further<br />
complication is that Transnistria was really not a part of Bessarabia historically but rather<br />
a part of Ukraine. It was part of the border changes that Stalin implemented to make<br />
escape of ethnic republics from the Soviet Union less likely. He took the southern tip of<br />
Bessarabia <strong>and</strong> gave it to Ukraine, <strong>and</strong> he took Transnistria from Ukraine <strong>and</strong> gave it to<br />
Moldova to create a kind of interlocking jigsaw puzzle. He did this in the Caucasus as<br />
well, <strong>and</strong> it accounted <strong>for</strong> many of the regional conflicts when the Soviet Union broke up.<br />
Q: Did you have any problem getting the appointment to be Ambassador?<br />
PERINA: No. The hearings were straight<strong>for</strong>ward <strong>and</strong> everything went well. The<br />
clearance process is of course long but it gave me time to study Romanian <strong>and</strong> brush up<br />
my Russian so that was not a problem.<br />
Q: Who had been Ambassador be<strong>for</strong>e you?<br />
PERINA: A fellow named Todd Stewart who was an economics officer. He was the<br />
second Ambassador <strong>and</strong> I was the third.<br />
Q: Let’s talk about what American interests were when you went out there?<br />
94